I am not sure why the book is called A Thousand Splendid Suns. But, it doesn’t matter really. It’s a beautiful story, and been eagerly awaited since the author’s first book The Kite Runner, published in 2003, became a runaway success. Hosseini was born in Afghanistan, and like millions of Afghans left his country during the very long period of foreign occupation and internal strife. His family moved to US and he is a medical doctor.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is a magnificent story spanning three generations of women and men. Its protagonists are two women – Miriam and Laila – who are a generation apart. Their fates come together as they are married to the same man – Rasheed – whose first wife and child have died. Miriam is a harami or a child born out of wedlock. Her mother was a maid and her father the man she worked for, who had three wives, and multiple children. Her mother was banished to a distant hut, outside the northern city of Herat, where Miriam was raised by her mother – seeing her father once a week, when he visited them. At the age of 15, Miriam runs away to her fathers’ house; her mother hangs herself; and Miriam’s life changes in ways she could not have imagined. Her father and wives arrange her marriage to the 40 year old Rasheed.
Miriam moves to Kabul where Rasheed owns a leather shop. Her life is sad and lonely. She has a miscarriage, and after that no living children. In a society where children - especially male - are so desired - Miriam becomes a living ghost in her home. Meanwhile, on their street are two families whose children, Laila and Tariq - unlike Miriam - are loved and wanted, cherished and desired. And, they transform Miriam’s life. Laila, in a series of mishaps ends up in their home and becomes Rasheed’s new wife (she is pregnant with Tariq’s child). It takes a while for Miriam and Laila, joined as they are in their mutual dislike for Rasheed, to develop a bond. So much so, Miriam while trying to save Laila’s life kills Rasheed. For this, she is sentenced to death.
Through the Soviet occupation, the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, everyone’s life is thrown in disarray. Lives are lost; men, women and children despair and no one can make sense of anything. A certain kind of de-humanization takes place – people have nowhere to turn to and nowhere to go. They cry, silently and loudly and often lose themselves, and their minds.
Through the trials and tribulations of loves and lives lost and gained, Hosseini weaves a magnificent tale. His descriptions of people, the landscape, and the state of mind of the characters is rich and pertinent. His prose is precise. His humanity is complete. His descriptions are accurate.
The strength of Hosseinis’ writing is his understanding of the world and people he left behind, as well as the world and people he went to.
As I read the book, I felt I was in Afghanistan. I read The Kite Runner before my first trip to Afghanistan in 2004. It enabled me to picture Afghanistan in a way no other book did. Now, after my second trip to Afghanistan in 2006, A Thousand Splendid Suns takes on greater meaning. I walked in the markets Mariam and Laila walked. I know the streets Hosseini writes about; I know the customs of the people; I witnessed their generosity and love first hand. I heard their stories and know that they match Hosseinis’.
Like the Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns comes full circle. Laila, Tariq and their children, who left Afghanistan for Pakistan during the Taliban regime, return. They want to contribute to the new Afghanistan. Like the Kite Runner, in this book, love triumphs over everything else – betrayal, jealousy, hatred, misfortune, and many more negative emotions.
In the end, and in the book, it is love that triumphs over death and destruction. This is the central message of the book. Those wanting to understand the nature of relationships in Afghanistan must read this book. It is historical, it is contemporary, it is sad, it is happy. Most of all, it is written from the heart.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is published by Bloomsbury and is 372 pages.
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